


a moving house

by Quillium



Category: Naruto
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Gen, Missing-Nin Hatake Kakashi, Tags will be updated as the story progresses, Teenage Hatake Kakashi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:08:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29639997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quillium/pseuds/Quillium
Summary: “You’re a good kid,” Genma says quietly. “Will I regret it, if I don’t kill you?”Kakashi looks at his hands. Danzo’s seal, beneath his skin, won’t let him do what he wants, not fully, not properly.OR: Kakashi is sixteen and an ANBU Captain and he’s tired. So what does he do? Become a missing-nin, of course!
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Shiranui Genma
Comments: 13
Kudos: 66





	a moving house

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you kiddos (and not-kiddos) are taking good care of yourselves. Take this time to stretch a lil, drink some water, eat something if you haven't eaten in a while, do the thing you're procrastinating on. You're doing wonderfully and I'm very proud of you, love y'all <3 This story will be waiting for you when you come back so go do your thing!

Kakashi is sixteen and an ANBU Captain and he’s tired.

“I can’t,” he says, quietly, refusing an order for the first time in a long time, because even though he’s Hatake Kakashi, friend-killer, heartless and detached, he can’t—

He can’t shake the resemblance between the child in the photo in front of him and sensei’s son.

( _ That’s a good thing _ , Gai’s voice in his head says.

_ Idiot _ , Kakashi’s voice answers, but whether that’s to Gai or himself, he doesn’t know.)

“He may be a Jinchuuriki,” Danzo says, leaning back, “But Gaara is only a child. Around Uzumaki’s age. For a shinobi of your caliber, it can be done.”

_ It’s not about what  _ can  _ be done _ , Kakashi thinks. Of course it can be done. It’s not—it’s not even arrogance on Kakashi’s part. He could kill this kid, easily. 

(But how can he say that to Danzo? How could he ever expect Danzo, of all people, who put a seal on his tongue as soon as sensei died, to—)

“It can be done.” Danzo repeats, and then leans forward, eyes narrowed. “But not if we stall any longer. We must stop this before it becomes too great of a threat.”

_ This _ .

_ ‘This’ _ , Kakashi thinks,  _ is a kid. _

Kakashi was a kid, once, but even then, he was a shinobi. Never  _ really _ a kid. The photo in front of him—that’s a kid. Not even a shinobi. He’s holding a fucking teddy bear.

(Kakashi left a teddy bear in Naruto’s apartment once. It was so stupid and probably illegal but he thought—

Sensei had been so excited about buying baby toys.)

Kakashi wants to close his eye, but with Danzo right there, he doesn’t dare to. “I’m sorry, Danzo-sama,” he manages, head bowed.

He doesn’t know why it’s so hard to agree. He’s agreed to missions like these before, thousands, in the past. He doesn’t know why it’s so hard, now.

( _ You know why. You’re just too ashamed of yourself to admit it _ .)

He’s so tired.

“I’m ordering you,” Danzo says, voice soft, “to do this.”

Kakashi bows. He takes the file and says, “Understood.”

Danzo smiles, pleased.

Kakashi tries to push away the revulsion twisting his stomach and stays silent.

* * *

He leaves. Let Danzo think he’s going to Suna—Kakashi cuts a neat little line through his hitai-ate on the first day.

It’s not out of nowhere. He’s thought about leaving before. But it was never anything concrete—just a little fantasy he played with when he was tired. Because he knew that he couldn’t quit, not with Danzo watching.

(A silly, stupid little game.

_ I’ll run away _ , Kakashi tells himself, hand dripping blood,  _ and eat as much dango as I want _ .

_ I’ll run away _ , he thinks, training without end,  _ and I’ll read books for as long as I want _ .

_ I’ll run away _ , as he walks into his apartment, cold and empty, only marginally better than the empty Hatake compound for its lack of ghosts,  _ and build for myself a home that I actually want to return to _ .

Little dreams that little kids have. Nothing—nothing  _ real _ .

Not like this. He never expected to actually do it, it was just a stupid little…

Like bedtime stories that moms tell their kids before sleep. Fairy tales, fake and silly and full of dreams that can never come true.)

Maybe if he were still fully under the Sandaime's power—but with Danzo giving him more missions that he suspects Sarutobi doesn’t know about, Kakashi doesn’t think he wants to stay much longer.

He goes to a little village in the Fire Country and folds his hitai-ate in his pocket. Henges himself long enough to buy a pair of clothing that can pass as civilian and a bandana to cover his eye. 

Then he tries to think. Tips back his head and closes his eyes and wonders what he’ll do. He can’t become a civilian. Kakashi knows nothing about civilians, nothing about life outside of fighting.

Then, what? Become a missing-nin? Betray his village?

He’s already done that.

_ Stupid, stupid, stupid _ .

Kakashi was supposed to be the one who thought things through. Who knew the consequences, the what-ifs, who thought about the future but now…

Look at him now.

(And he won’t admit it for a long time, but here’s the truth: That part of Kakashi knew, if he had stayed, he wouldn’t have had a future.

Not one he could bear to have, anyways.

And when he left, it was because he desperately needed a future--one he could live without drowning, drowning, drowning.)

Maybe he regrets it. He misses, already… Gai’s loudness. The smell of Asuma’s smoke, Kurenai scolding him even as she puts one between her lips with a light laugh. Anko’s sharp grin as she leans back, as though the world were at her fingertips.

But he has been missing them for a long time. Long before this—and that was his own fault, really.

He told himself then,  _ I can’t go back to that _ .

And now he really can’t. There’s no way back to that easy comfort, that sure sense of companionship.

_ Wow _ , Kakashi thinks to himself, head between his knees,  _ not even a day out and already having the breakdown _ .

(It was a long time coming, and he knew that. He just didn’t… didn’t want to face it.)

First things first. Don’t get killed, and find some income, or at least some way to get food.

Easy.

Kakashi counts in his head.  _ One, two… _

On three, he stands, and starts moving. There’s work to be done.

* * *

Ruofeng has been a part of Tianxia village for a long time. 

She wasn’t born here—her parents told her she was born by the sea, in a small house that was always filled with sunlight—but she has been here a long time nevertheless.

Her hair grew from black to white here, and really, doesn’t that say enough of how long she has been here? How much she has aged?

Tianxia village was never really exciting or incredible. 

Like most villages, it had its little specialties—sweet wine made from the lilies that grew by their lake, and flaky pastries with lotus filling—but in the end, Tianxia is a peaceful, quiet place.

That’s why, Ruofeng supposes, most of the young people moved out. 

They wanted something brighter, fresher, with promise for many paths in their future. And really, how could Ruofeng fault them for that? Everyone has their path to walk, it’s not her place to be bitter about theirs.

It does, however, leave them some problems. 

Old Yang down the street struggles more each day with his pastry shipments, his back problems not helped by the fact that he only can afford a cart but no horse.

Leaky roofs are hastily covered by the few young left, knowing that if any of the older folk go up a ladder and fall, it could end very, very poorly.

It’s not that they struggle anymore than others. Ruofeng thinks they actually do quite well. It’s just that—well. These old bones want, quite selfishly, to rest.

And that’s when Sukea appears.

“I’d like to do odd jobs,” he says, hands clasped earnestly in front of himself, “for room and board if possible, but I’ll take food or money if not.”

Ruofeng figures, well, she’s an old lady. If he means her any harm, it’s not as though she had that much time left either way. And what would he have to gain by hurting her? She isn’t rich either—nobody in their little village does much more than get by.

So she volunteers, and he bows, and that’s that.

Sukea doesn’t seem to carry any weapons or have a hitai-ate, but he’s quite clearly a ninja. 

He’s a sweet young man, though—wearing a bit of a childish eyepatch over one eye, as though he were a pirate, helping around. 

Leaky roofs that they gave up on are fixed overnight with Sukea around, made tighter and even nicer than when the house was first constructed.

Mice are killed with a vengeance, batted around by Sukea’s dog summons.

Old Yang gives his cart to Sukea, who groans  _ what am I, a donkey? _ but makes the deliveries all the same, and comes back with the proper payment of money.

Sukea takes what he needs, but nothing more, citing that the elderly are meant to live in luxury.

“Hogwash,” Ruofeng snorts, but she’s charmed all the same by the young man, like the rest of the village. 

She feeds him lotus cookies as he wades into the lake to pick out fish (he just sticks his hands in, quick as a flash, and when his hands come out of the water, he’s holding wriggling fish to be cooked and eaten).

He grins at her and says, “Save those cookies for yourself,” but Ruofeng answers that she’s too old, her teeth can’t bear such hard cookies.

Sukea gives her a look that says that he knows what she’s doing, but doesn’t argue further. 

He makes her meals—silly boy tries to minimize what work she does. Ruofeng tries to insist on washing the dishes, but he ends up stealing that work from her too, more often than not.

“I won’t break my back doing a bit of work, you know,” she tells him.

“It’s the younger’s honour to serve an elder,” he answers cheekily. 

Brat.

They settle into a quiet, gentle sort of peace.

Some nights Ruofeng will stay up with Sukea and read with him. A lifetime in a quaint village like this has led to her amassing a respectable collection of books, and discussing the books with Sukea is always a delight.

He claims he’s eighteen, but she bets that he’s younger. She won’t say it, though—such a secret doesn’t harm anyone, she thinks, especially with a lovely young man like Sukea.

Then the merchants come with an escort from Konoha.

It isn’t a rare thing to happen. Spring, after a cold winter, is bandit season, so while not often, the merchants do like to have an escort for themselves and their goods during that time.

Ruoheng thinks the fine young people who come are always quite polite, though sometimes cold. 

(They tend to warm up after a lotus pastry, though. Young Genma, for example, insists—according to his ever-changing companions—on coming for their pastries. He’s been coming since he was a genin, and he’s already been jounin for years.)

Sukea is gone that morning. He leaves a note by her bedside, saying he has errands to run and hopes to be back within a week.

Ruoheng, who has already suspected a while that he’s a missing-nin, vows not to confront him about it and play dumb.

He’s a good young man, she thinks. She won’t ruin anyone’s lives over this.

Ruoheng hopes he’s safe, and goes out to meet the merchants.

* * *

It’s a close call, nearly running into Genma.

Genma and Kakashi had been on the same squad before Kakashi got promoted--he still remembers the taste of Genma’s red bean soup, warm on long missions camped out in the cold at night, the ease with which he carried out his orders, the feeling of--

The feeling of someone being there to rely on.

Kakashi wonders what Genma would have done, had Danzo gone to him and--

_ Stop it _ .

What’s the point of thinking useless things?

He has to find somewhere to stay for a week. He  _ should _ leave forever but he--

It’s so stupid.

It’s--

He got attached. To the little village and its people, most of whom should be retired but still work hard with a mullish sort of determination to live their lives well, who have been through hardship but are still kind…

Kakashi wonders how he ever thought civilians were weak.

Maybe they are still weak. Maybe it’s just Kakashi, who crumbles at the slightest touch, who’s too scared of losing to gain a thing, who’s weak and--

_ Pathetic _ .

Kakashi likes Tianxia village. He loves staying there. He thinks…

He thinks he might even grow to build a home there. If he stays long enough. If they let him. If--

If nobody finds out where he is.

He should buy some books, for granny Ruofeng, who lets him live in her house and tells him stories and does his laundry no matter how much he insists he can do it himself.

(“You cook our meals, so I’ll do the laundry,” she says, stealing his clothes in the middle of the night. “It’s only reasonable.”

“I’m still young, I can--”

“Are you calling me old?”

“Yes, granny.”

“Brat!” She cackles. “Let me do this, then, since I won’t be able to do much for you the older I get.”

What a sobering thought.

“I’ll take care of you, for as long as I’m here.” Kakashi says quietly. “So you won’t have to worry about that.”

“No,” granny Ruofeng squeezes his hand and says gently, “You won’t always be around, Sukea.”

_ I could _ , Kakashi thinks.  _ I’ve shown my face to you. I’ll throw away my name. I could _ .

Kakashi thinks about Suna’s sweet, ripe dates, and their golden fried dough with fruit syrup drizzled on. 

Kakashi thinks of the thrill of a good fight, the joy of finding a new jutsu, the satisfaction of having protected someone precious to you.

_ I could _ , he thinks, closing his eyes,  _ if you asked me to _ .

But she won’t ask… and Kakashi probably won’t stay.)

Kakashi wants the home that Konoha had promised him. But that home doesn’t exist so he--

Can’t he find happiness here, in Tianxia village?

_ Yes _ , his chest sings,  _ yes, we can _ .

Maybe it’s time he bought a dog bed--he’ll see if granny Ruofeng allows Pakkun to stay inside the house.

* * *

Something Kakashi forgot: That Genma is, though not in any obvious way, absolutely brilliant.

Brilliant how? That his mind works quick, that he develops ideas like no tomorrow, that he was in ANBU and thus one of the best at suppressing his chakra.

And so, stupid Kakashi, when he sees the merchants are gone and his chakra sweep comes up empty, thinks  _ it’s fine _ .

He didn’t realize someone like  _ Genma _ would come on what ought to be a C-rank. B-rank, at best. That’s  _ genin _ stuff. Chunin at best.

Genma’s one of the best. So  _ why the fuck _ is he here?

“The famed Sukea,” Genma is sitting on  _ Kakashi’s bed _ , twirling senbon between his fingers like it’s as easy as breathing. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen your face before.”

A bit of wry humour. Kakashi’s suppressing his chakra but Genma knows, and Kakashi knows that Genma knows, and Genma knows that Kakashi knows that--

It’s a spiral.

Kakashi’s spiralling.

Kakashi moves but Genma is by his side, smiling easily, senbon still between his fingers.

_ Just incapacitate and kill me _ , Kakashi thinks,  _ why play games? _

He’s so tired.

“The Third had said you deserted,” Genma says, “but I didn’t really believe him.  _ Kakashi? _ I thought.  _ You’d never find anyone more loyal _ . Yet here you are. Is it an undercover mission?”

“Yes,” Kakashi says.

Genma laughs quietly. “We both know you’re lying. If you really  _ were _ undercover, you’d never tell me--you’d rather have a fight to the death than give yourself away so easily.”

Kakashi can’t help it. He’s become rather stupid in his time away, he supposes.

“I didn’t have any tells, though,” he says.

“No,” Genma agrees, bright, “You’ve always been great at lying. I wouldn’t have know, were we strangers.”

Kakashi says, quietly, “We are strangers.”

Genma eyes him, thoughtfully, and then, voice terribly gentle, he says, “No, Kakashi, I don’t think we are. Why aren’t you properly being a missing nin? Why are you here, hiding in some village in the middle of nowhere, just helping out old people?”

“Maybe I’m plotting.”

“No offense, Kakashi,” Genma says unapologetically, “But good as you are at strategy, you’ve never been all that good at the long term.”

No, he hasn’t. Kakashi’s mindset has always been  _ you’ll die soon _ . So he did what he did in the moment, with the assumption that tomorrow was never guaranteed.

(Running away was the first time he thought--that maybe he could have a future. Maybe. Maybe he could live a little longer, maybe he’d even make it to eighteen--

Stupid, stupid.

Maybe it was Minato-sensei finally infecting him from beyond the grave.)

“That’s why it took me so long to make a move.”

“This wasn’t your move,” Genma turns his back. What confidence. But Kakashi can’t betray that trust, even now. “This was mine.”

He can’t argue that. It’s true. And Kakashi hates it, but it’s true.

He can’t kill Genma. And Genma’s too good to let Kakashi incapacitate him. And even then, even then, if he gets away, he can never return to Tianxia village--because they’ll know.

Because Genma, unlike Kakashi, is a loyal Leaf shinobi.

“You’re a good kid,” Genma says quietly. “Will I regret it, if I don’t kill you?”

Kakashi looks at his hands. Danzo’s seal, beneath his skin, won’t let him do what he wants, not fully, not properly.

He still can’t talk to Naruto. Kill Danzo. Properly be a jounin in Konoha, properly--

He doesn’t even know what he wants.

“I don’t know,” he answers honestly.

Genma laughs. “You always were too honest for your own good. Why did you leave?”

“I wanted a change of scenery.” He wants it to sound flippant, but Kakashi’s voice is stupidly, honestly earnest.

Genma hears it, too. He sighs, and says, “Kid, you know how high the bounty is on your head? You’re A-rank. Sandaime and Danzo are thinking of making you S-rank.”

Kakashi doesn’t have many tells. He’s good at faking ease, relaxation. So he doesn’t tense. But Genma knows his buttons, and Genma knows that he must be uncomfortable, all the same.

“What will you do?” Kakashi asks quietly.

“What can I do?” Genma sighs. “I thought we were close… maybe even friends. Do you still consider us friends?”

“I don’t think that’s possible.”

Genma has known Kakashi for a long time. So he spins his senbon a bit more, sighs, and says, “Well, that’s too bad, because I think it is.”

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr @quilliumwrites where I am admittedly mostly a Genshin blog but taking requests for all fandoms! If it's past your bedtime, _please_ go to bed. If you ignored my first author's note, go take care of yourself now! Be kind to yourself today, and stay hydrated, please.


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